This study examined undergraduate, non-music majors’ familiarity with and preference for Arabic music as compared to other world music. Several factors were examined to assess their effect on music preference including familiarity, musical characteristics, and student characteristics. Study participants included 203 undergraduate, non-music majors enrolled in six sections of music appreciation classes. Participants were divided into Caucasian and non- Caucasian groups ranging from 18 to 42 years of age. Music excerpts from Africa (Congo), Latin America (Mexico), Asia (Japan), and the Middle East (Kuwait) were used as examples of different world music. Arabic music was introduced as a new factor in this study that had not been explored in previous research. Knowing about students’ familiarity and preference for Arabic music may help in understanding the ramifications of its inclusion in music programs, and the proper method of introducing it to the students in the classroom. Participants listened to the 12 musical excerpts and completed the WMFPT questionnaire. Results indicated that participants were not familiar with the world music excerpts, but did like the excerpts to a moderate degree. Significant positive relationships were found between preference and familiarity, within preference ratings, and within familiarity ratings. The most influential musical characteristics in liking world music were rhythm, tempo, and timbre, with rhythm being the most influential. Participants’ background seems to have no significant relationship with either familiarity or preference. Results revealed that playing a musical instrument, musical training, and previous exposure to music of other cultures significantly affected preference and familiarity ratings. / School of Music

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Reproduced from typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 240-261).

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Current practices in music education parallel the expansion of globalization and cross-cultural contact. However, the multicultural music education movement—referred to by some as "world music education"—has been primarily about the diversity of musical experiences and less about the circumstances and processes of the music itself. As a result, Western music educators often neglect inseparable learning pathways and unintentionally distort the meaning and value of diverse musics from around the world. While there is considerable research examining the teaching and learning of diverse music cultures, significant portions of that literature only represent the observed accounts of cultural outsiders. In this study, I examined the lived experiences of world music culture bearers who teach in Western university institutions in the Southwest region of the United States. I used narrative inquiry to learn more about their pedagogical experiences and documented their storied accounts of interactions with university students. I based the theoretical framework in this study on Clandinin and Connelly's narrative inquiry three-dimensional space model and Schippers' twelve continuum transmission framework. My primary findings revealed that teaching in a cross-cultural setting involves several musical and contextual choices. Moreover, the perceived authenticity of the research participants' transmission processes was often a byproduct of their teaching realities—the intersection of their music culture and Western institutional structures—and included numerous adaptations. As was the case with all three participants, their past experiences constituted their present teacher knowledge and became a significant part of how they perceived their futures.

Detta arbete handlar om synen på världsmusik och etnisk musik i tre svenska kulturskolor. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur dessa kulturskolor ser på och arbetar med genrenvärldsmusik och etnisk musik. Av intresse är också att studera hur eller om de följer ellerkänner till kulturrådets rekommendationer och riktlinjer. I arbetet tar jag upp världsmusikenoch dess plats i Sverige, begreppet världsmusik samt teorier om hur kulturer förändras ochutvecklas hela tiden. Datamaterialet utgörs av tre kvalitativa intervjuer med tre enhetschefer från tre olika kulturskolor som erbjuder världsmusik och/eller etnisk musik i undervisningen.Deltagande respondenter hade olika åsikter om ämnet, särskilt angående terminologin inom området såsom exempelvis begreppet världsmusik. En av respondenterna var motståndare förbegreppet världsmusik medan de andra respondenterna inte hade några problem att accepteradetta begrepp. Två av kulturskolorna använder världsmusik och etnisk musik för att nåinvandrargrupper. I diskussionen fokuseras på terminologin, influenserna utifrån samt förändringen i kulturen. / This essay deals with the perception of world music and ethnic music based on three of Sweden’s culture schools. The purpose of the study is to examine how these culture schools view this genre and how, or whether they follow/ know the Council of Culture's recommendations and guidelines. In this essay, I present world music in Sweden and theconcept of world music, and assume that cultures change and evolve constantly. The datamaterial consists of three interviews with three headmasters from three different cultureschools that offer world music and/or ethnic music. Participating respondents had different opinions regarding the subject, especially terminology such as the concept of worldmusic. One of the respondents was opposed to the concept of world music, while theother respondents had no problem accepting the concept. Two of the culture schools use world music and ethnic music in order to reach immigrant groups. The discussion focuses on the terminology, influences from abroad and the cultural changes.

The comparison of world music cultures has been considered in musicological research since the end of the 19th century. Traditional methods from the field of comparative musicology typically involve the process of manual music annotation. While this provides expert knowledge, the manual input is timeconsuming and limits the potential for large-scale research. This thesis considers computational methods for the analysis and comparison of world music cultures. In particular, Music Information Retrieval (MIR) tools are developed for processing sound recordings, and data mining methods are considered to study similarity relationships in world music corpora. MIR tools have been widely used for the study of (mainly) Western music. The first part of this thesis focuses on assessing the suitability of audio descriptors for the study of similarity in world music corpora. An evaluation strategy is designed to capture challenges in the automatic processing of world music recordings and different state-of-the-art descriptors are assessed. Following this evaluation, three approaches to audio feature extraction are considered, each addressing a different research question. First, a study of singing style similarity is presented. Singing is one of the most common forms of musical expression and it has played an important role in the oral transmission of world music. Hand-designed pitch descriptors are used to model aspects of the singing voice and clustering methods reveal singing style similarities in world music. Second, a study on music dissimilarity is performed. While musical exchange is evident in the history of world music it might be possible that some music cultures have resisted external musical influence. Low-level audio features are combined with machine learning methods to find music examples that stand out in a world music corpus, and geographical patterns are examined. The last study models music similarity using descriptors learned automatically with deep neural networks. It focuses on identifying music examples that appear to be similar in their audio content but share no (obvious) geographical or cultural links in their metadata. Unexpected similarities modelled in this way uncover possible hidden links between world music cultures. This research investigates whether automatic computational analysis can uncover meaningful similarities between recordings of world music. Applications derive musicological insights from one of the largest world music corpora studied so far. Computational analysis as proposed in this thesis advances the state-of-the-art in the study of world music and expands the knowledge and understanding of musical exchange in the world.

In this essay I discuss a collection of seven piano pieces that I commissioned by four emerging young Colombian composers. It contains two parts: the first explains the importance of involving contemporary and world music in piano education and includes a brief history of music in Colombia. The second part discusses in detail each of the piano pieces and the contemporary and folkloric references that each one uses. It also illustrates the technical challenges that each piece presents and provides suggestions on how to practice each work. The two pieces by Castaño include taped electronic sound as part of them. The two files are attached with the paper. I have always believed in the responsibility and importance that teachers have in the creation of new music and discuss the importance of educators working with composers. I also explore the importance of teaching and learning world music and contemporary music from the beginning of a piano education. The commissions are the first step towards the creation of a piano pedagogical anthology of Colombian contemporary music for the late intermediate and early advanced level for which there is very little Colombian repertoire. Colombia's rich rhythms, dances and musical traditions are not reflected in the formal music education in the country. Heightened security and the resulting economic growth have brought significant changes over the last ten years to the country providing a moment of possibility to advance an agenda in musical education as well. If the piano teachers take charge of the education of the new generation, beyond simply teaching them how to play the piano, the classical music tradition in Colombia will grow at the same time that high quality music will be provided around the world to play.

This dissertation investigates the case of world music in Turkey as an illustration of the discursive mechanisms involved in the production of a global cultural form from what the globality has defined as the &lsquo / local&rsquo / . The study attempts to show the complicated nature of the process by examining how the musical forms and themes supposedly belonging to the &lsquo / local&rsquo / are incorporated into and appropriated in the discourses associated with world music and into the corresponding strategies of the actors. The discursive compilations, articulations and dislocations taking place in the subspecies of the commercial category of world music in a particular locality are investigated by mapping the discursive topographies on the imaginary continuum from the global to the local. This study views locality as a space where a repertoire of discourses are contested and articulated in the production and consumption of global cultural commodities. In line with this understanding, this dissertation also investigates what is the local as it is produced through the particular brand of world music in Turkey. The study also aims to contribute to the theoretical discussions in the literature on the interaction between the global and the local by looking at the production of a global cultural form in a particular locality.